Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who has had a green bent for many years, is sounding like a treehugger in his calls for reducing carbon emissions, raising fuel economy standards, and incentives for buying zero emission vehicles. (On the other hand, he's also calling for increasing offshore drilling and expanding nuclear energy, so his message is clearly mixed.)

McCain's stance of government intervention in promoting energy independence is politically courageous to a degree as it won't sit well with some conservatives. Spending more on incentives for drilling and electric vehicle batteries is not the free market president that some would like him to be.

Both McCain and competitor Barack Obama have energy plans that would understandably cost money to the American taxpayer because that's what necessary to address climate change and energy independence. But the least expensive option to reduce our oil consumption -- and therefore if this is a free market system lower gasoline prices -- would be to ask drivers to drive 55 miles per hour.

The federal government says that for "each 5 mph you drive over 60 mph is like paying an additional $0.30 per gallon for gas," and that information was posted well before prices hit $4 a gallon.

Setting the voluntary campaign for driving 55. Appealing to individual's patriotism and concern for the environment through an organized media campaign will change some behaviors and cost a fraction of the proposed incentives.

Some drivers are getting the connection that driving fast equates to higher prices, more CO2 emissions and more money sent to unstable oil-rich nations. More and more vehicles -- even non-hybrids -- are putting the miles per gallon information on the dashboard. A study from Duke University indicates that consumers would understand the math better about fuel consumption if information were posted in reverse of today's standards -- gallons used per miles driven. For example, driving a car that gets 25 miles per gallon as opposed to 20 for 1,000 miles in a month saves 10 gallons of gas, or about $40. A change in perspective is all that's needed.